Interview mit Kyle Nesbitt von Ninkharsag

In the UK, the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus is said to have made good progress. How are you personally coping in regard to the pandemic?
Personally we haven’t been affected too much by it. We have used all the extra time at home to really focus on the new album and start forging new alliances for when we can start being active again.

According to the metal archives, your band name goes back to a Sumerian mother deity. Quite an unusual name for a British melodic black metal band. What’s the reason for you choosing it?
It hearkens back to the old tradition of black metal bands chosing names from ancient deities. Although Ninhursag is a fertilty goddess, she is also the goddess of mountains and that is something that truly appeals to us. Of course, there is also the alternative history that the true creators of mankind were scientists who created us a slave race and Ninkharsag was an entity from that race.
Regardless of what you believe, the name sounded powerful and we no longer associate it with the goddess. We feel like we have now imbued it with its own meaning which is unique to us.

With that in mind, it’s almost a bit ironic that black metal is still largely dominated by men and women are just slowly starting to come forward in the genre. What do you think about that?
Personally we know a lot of women who are into the black and death metal scene so we haven’t given it much thought. The scene has definitely become more popular and accessible over the years, especially since the 90’s when we began listening to this music!
In regards to women performing in black or death metal bands; it doesn’t matter either way so long as there is a true artistic drive to create something and that should be encouraged regardless of gender or race.

Six years have passed since the release of your debut „The Blood Of Celestial Kings“. What what going on with you during that time?
We have been writing this album and the next one, gigging where possible and generally taking our time to deliver the album we truly wanted to deliver. Our first album never really felt complete to us and we did not approach it with much of an agenda as much as we just wanted to get something out as quick as possible, especially when Candlelight Records were interested in releasing it. In hindsight, we probably should have spent longer on it but you live and learn.

Now you have released a new album titled „The Dread March Of Solemn Gods“. Did the reactions to it turn out like you hoped?
Yes, the reactions to the new album have been amazing thus far. Overwhelmingly so! However, we never really set out to release an album that would appeal to so many people, we just wanted to create an album we ourselves wanted to listen to. We were extremely shocked that all copies of the vinyl sold out pretty much straight away and the gold vinyl sold out over night. There is a vinyl repress planned for the summer.

Almost half of the new songs were released as singles quite some time before the release of the album, a few even in the previous year. Did you want to present new material as soon as possible with the debut having been released that long ago?
Yes, it was our intention to gradually release as much of the album in advance to generate interest after being away for so long. When we released the track‚ ‚Discipline Through Black Sorcery‘ online, it was to put the feelers out for possible labels and Vendetta Records (who had already contacted us in the past) got in touch straight away and made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.

Your new album seems very different from your first one – the songs are longer and the artwork is more reminiscent of classic black metal than the exotic cover of your debut. How did this change of direction happen?
It was intentional. Musically, we had been working on some of these songs long before we released ‚Celestial Kings‘ so the change didn’t seem drastic to us at all. I wrote most of ‚Discipline Through Black Sorcery’ in 2011 and we have been playing ‚The Necromanteion’ live since about 2013. We felt like they would be better suited to the next album as a lot of the songs on the first album are a bit more straight forward and primative. That said, the tracks ‚Tartarus Unbound’ and ‚The Essential Salts Of Human Dust’ from ‚Celestial Kings‘ are probably more in keeping with the material presented on the new album.
Regarding the cover, we wanted an album cover that drew together all the imagery contained within the lyrics of the album as well as the inspiration behind the music. It had to be cold, dark and a celebration of night and death. I feel like the artist (MFA XII) really captured the feel that we wanted and we were meticulous with the references we gave him. A lot of people have compared it to the first two Dissection album covers and while there is certainly an inspiration there of Necrolord’s amazing work on those and Emperor’s ‚In The Nightside Eclipse’, our true desire was for a cover similar to King Diamond’s ‚Abigail’, Bathory’s ‚Blood, Fire, Death’, Metallica’s ‚Ride The Lightening’ and Grim Reaper’s ‚See You In Hell’.

Both visually and musically, „The Dread March Of Solemn Gods“ will certainly remind many of bands like Dissection. Does it bother you when you guys are held up to this comparison?
It doesn’t bother me so much as I am a huge fan. However it wasn’t really our intention to be a direct continuation of that rather than to create something which straddled the 80’s and 90’s scenes which Dissection certainly did too. So it is a fair comparison to an extent but not the only one people should make.

There are quite a few bands that have taken on this style, which is considered redundant by some. Do you think innovation in music is overrated?
I think the musicians themselves should hold power over what music they write. I do like innovation in music and I am a huge fan of progressive rock. However, we wanted this band to be exactly what it is now; blackened heavy metal. If we wanted to include progressive or experimental innovation in this style, it wouldn’t really work for us.

In a post announcing the album, you called the album „a fist in the face of the music of this century“. Isn’t that a bit overly reactionary?
Our intentions for this band have always been crystal clear and that is to write the sort of music we ourselves want to listen to. It is up to the personal listener if they are interested or like what we do but we will never pander to them or a particular current trend. I am not a fan of 99% of the modern black metal scene but I have no interest in decrying it either and feel like artists should have the right to release whatever art they want.

The post also said that the record was difficult to realize not only because of the pandemic, but in general because of things beyond your control. What did you mean by that?
It was difficult as individually we were all dealing with often-times life altering incidents and trauma. However, we have used all that to imbue the album with even more power as by the time we began ramping up the promotion for it, we literally had nothing else to lose. So it has actual put things into perspective that there is no other time to get things done other than this very moment.

You often use melodies in your music that are reminiscent of classic heavy metal. In your opinion, is the melodic aspect too often neglected in black metal?
It is in this century, yes. A lot of the early 90’s Black Metal albums were rife with melody yet somehow over the years, that was replaced with blast beats and hyper riffing. Sure, there is a place for that but for us, the melody or riff should be absolutely paramount. Hence why this album is absolutely stuffed with them.

Concerning the production of your record you have worked with Chris Fielding. Why did you choose him in particular?
He has an excellent track record (Winterfylleth, Conan, Primordial) so we knew he would be able to deliver. Plus, he had just relocated by to the glorious Foel Studio in the middle of nowhere in Wales where we could spend a week focusing on recording the album rather than doing it in a city studio.

How was the collaboration with him? Did he have any influence on the album beyond the production?
No, we went into the studio with the full album written and demoed but he did offer advice here and there to tighten things up. We were very direct about what we wanted everything to sound like from the guitars to the drum reverb and he was very obliging, however bizarre the request may have been.

Do you have any specific plans for the near future of NINKHARSAG?
We are touring around England with Ante-Inferno at the end of August (if the restrictions lift) then after that we aim to get over into whatever European countries we can to tour. It is hard to really plan anything at the moment but once we get the green light, we will be hitting the road full time.

Let’s come to the end of our interview by doing a short brainstorming:
Thulcandra: First album.
Landscape painting: Home.
Post-black metal: No.
Nihilism: Yes.
Necrolord: A master.
NINKHARSAG in five years: Unconquerable.

Thanks for your answers! I’d like to leave the last words to you:
Thank you for the interview and thank you to all the total maniacs around the world that have gone crazy for our new album! We will see you all on the road in the ‘new world’ which we intend to raze to the ground. Hail Death!

Publiziert am 27. Juni 2021 von Stephan Rajchl